October 23, 2012

Hi guys, today I have a massive comparison post for you! It's full of comparisons you all requested for the OPI Skyfall Collection, Zoya Ornate Collection and Essie Winter 2012 Collection. I also have a few for the China Glaze Holiday Joy Collection which I haven't had a chance to swatch in full yet but I did pull comparisons to include with this post. Be on the look out for swatches of that collection next week!

There were some comparisons that were requested that I was unable to do because I either don't own the polish you wanted to see compared or I do own the polish and it's loaned out to a friend (or missing in my house haha). I hope this is helpful for you guys! This post is VERY picture heavy, my apologies if it takes a while to load after you click the read more button below.

China Glaze Angel Wings vs China Glaze Ultamate Holiday. Angel Wings is part of the Holiday Joy Collection that I'll have swatches of soon for you! It instantly reminded me of 1 of the Ulta Exclusive Holiday shades China Glaze put out last year called Ultamate Holiday. Good news for those of you who missed out on Ultamate Holiday...it's pretty much the exact same polish. The only minor difference was the formula, Angel Wings was a touch thicker. I used 3 coats of each polish for the photo below.

China Glaze Champagne Kisses vs. China Glaze I'm Not Lion vs. China Glaze I Herd That. Champagne Kisses is another from the Holiday Joy Collection. No dupes between these 3 polishes but they might be similar enough to skip. I used 3 coats for each polish for the photos below. Sidenote: these make a pretty ombre, don't they?

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JulieG Light It Up vs OPI Rainbow Connection vs China Glaze Pizzazz vs Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday. I have so many glitters like this, I could have seriously dedicated a whole post to just comparing them. Basically these are all pretty much the same, there are small variations in the color and sizes of the glitters but overall they all look the same on the nail. I used 1 coat of each polish over Nails Inc Black Taxi for the photo below.

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Essie Beyond Cozy vs. China Glaze I'm Not Lion vs. OPI Designer De Better. No dupes between these 3 but again, maybe similar enough to skip. I used 3 coats for I'm Not Lion and Designer De Better and 2 coats of polish for Beyond Cozy.

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Essie Butler Please vs Nails Inc Baker St. These 2 are actually very close, in real life Baker St. is a little bit brighter and it lacks the dustiness that Butler Please has a little of but they are close enough to not need both. The small difference is more noticeable in real life than in photos but again, it's a very slight difference. I myself prefer Baker St but Butler Please is a great alternative. I used 2 coats for each polish.

Essie Butler Please vs Sally Hansen Pacific Blue vs Essie Mesmerized. No dupes here, Pacific Blue is lighter and brighter than Butler Please but they are probably close enough to not need both. I went and bought Mesmerized since so many people requested the comparison, I'm actually surprised by how much darker it is. I used 2 coats for each polish for the photo below.

Essie Leading Lady vs Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle. No dupes between these 2, Razzle Dazzle is much more of a raspberry shade. I used 2 coats of Leading Lady and 3 coats of Razzle Dazzle for the photo below.

Essie Leading Lady vs Essie Ruby Slippers. I think a lot of people were probably hoping these 2 were dupes, sadly they aren't. While they are very similar finish wise Leading Lady is darker and Ruby Slippers has golden shimmer/glitter. I used 2 coats of each polish for the photo below.

Essie Where's My Chauffeur? vs China Glaze Aquadelic. These 2 are also not dupes but they are pretty close, Aquadelic is a little lighter and it leans more towards green. You probably can skip the Essie if you already have the China Glaze. I used 2 coats of each polish for the photo below.

Essie Where's My Chauffeur vs. China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise vs Color Club Blue-Ming. These 2 were requested but they aren't very close so in an effort to save my cuticles a little I decided to just show a bottle shot. Clearly no dupes here....in real life the China Glaze is greener (that color is such a pain to photograph, sorry!)

OPI Die Another Day vs OPI Deutsche You Want Me Baby vs OPI Danke Shiny Red. No dupes here either but I'm pretty sure that if Deutsche You Want Me Baby and Danke Shiny Red had a love child the result would be Die Another Day. It's pretty much smack dab in the middle of these 2 polishes color wise. In real life Deutsche You Want Me Baby leans more towards orange, again impossible to photograph...sorry. I used 2 coats for each polish.

OPI Live And Let Die vs Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe. I thought these 2 might be close when I was swatching Live and Let Die, they are both gorgeous but very different. The weird thing about wearing these polishes at the same time was next to the OPI polish the Orly polish was looking much more teal than it usually does on it's own. I used 1 coat of the OPI and 2 of the Orly for the photo below.

OPI Live and Let Die vs. China Glaze Glittering Garland vs. Zoya Logan vs. Essence Walk On The Wild Side. Live and Let Die vs. Glittering Garland was probably the most requested comparison, sadly they are not dupes. Glittering Garland is lighter and a lot more sparkly. The other 2 polishes are also not dupes. I used 1 coat of Live and Let Die and 2 coats of the other 3 polishes for the photo below.

OPI On Her Majesty's Secret Service vs. Zoya FeiFei. In the bottle FeiFei was a little bit lighter but on the nail I can't tell these 2 apart! I used 3 coats for each polish for the photos below.

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OPI The Spy Who Loved Me vs OPI Red Dazzle vs OPI Ali's Big Break. No dupes here, in the photo Red Dazzle looks pretty close but depending on the light it was much more of an orangey red next to The Spy Who Loved Me. I used 3 coats of Red Dazzle and 2 coats for the other 2 polishes for the photo below.

OPI The World Is Not Enough vs Nicole by OPI For Gold Times Sake vs OPI Designer De Better. No dupes here :( I used 3 coats for each polish in the photo below.

OPI Tomorrow Never Dies vs OPI Ink vs China Glaze Bizarre Blurple. As far as what I'm comparing today Bizarre Blurple is the closest thing I have to Tomorrow Never Dies. It's a bit darker and more blue toned but similar enough to probably not need both. I used 2 coats for each polish.

OPI Tomorrow Never Dies vs OPI Into The Night vs. Color Club Personal Stylist vs China Glaze Want My Bawdy. All 3 of these polishes are much lighter and more blue than Tomorrow Never Dies. I don't think they are a good alternative for it, however I think you probably don't need all 3 of them if you are looking for a shade like them. I used 2 coats of Tomorrow Never Dies and Personal Stylist and 3 coats for the other 2 polishes below.

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OPI Tomorrow Never Dies vs. Zoya Song. This was another request but they are pretty different so I decided to just do a bottle shot for them!

OPI You Only Live Twice vs. OPI I'm All Ears vs. China Glaze Strawberry Fields vs Zoya Kimber vs China Glaze Ahoy. You Only Live Twice was by far the winner of most comparison requests...because of this I decided to do mostly bottle shots since a lot of them weren't that close. Hope you guys don't mind!

OPI You Only Live Twice vs. JulieG Gift Wrapped vs OPI Meep Meep Meep. Out of everything requested these 2 were the closest to You Only Live Twice. There were slight differences in the finish of these but they are very close color wise, you don't definitely don't need all 3. I used 2 coats of each polish for the photo below.

OPI You Only Live Twice vs. OPI The One That Got Away vs. OPI Congeniality Is My Middle Name.

Zoya Aurora vs. A England Lady of the Lake vs OPI DS Extravagance. No dupes here! I used 2 coats for each polish!

Zoya Blaze vs. OPI DS Extravagance vs Essie Wild Thing vs Orly Miss Conduct. No dupes here either, I thought Miss Conduct would be a little closer but Blaze is more red toned compared to all 3 other polishes. I used 2 coats for each polish below.

Zoya Electra vs. OPI Save Me. These 2 are much different, definitely worth owning both if you like bar glitter. I used 1 coat of each polish over Nails Inc Black Taxi for the photo below.

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Zoya Logan vs Zoya Ivanka. This was another big request, unfortunately they are very different. Logan is more blue based and also much more opaque. I love Ivanka but it's so sheer that I pretty much never wear it. I used 2 coats of Logan and 4 of Ivanka for the photos below.

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Zoya Storm vs A England Bridal Veil vs Butter London The Black Knight vs Girly Bits Into the Night. No dupes here but you kind of get the same look with Storm and The Black Knight even though the glitter is very different. I used 1 coat of Bridal Veil, 2 coats of Storm and Into The Night and 3 coats of The Black Knight for the photo below.

Zoya Ziv vs. JulieG Ornamental vs OPI Designer De Better. No dupes with these 3 but Ornamental and Ziv are probably close enough to not need both. The only small differences are that Ziv is a touch darker and it has some glitter in the mix, Ornamental is straight up foil finish. I used 2 coats of Ornamental and Ziv and 3 coats of Designer De Better for the photo below.

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Last but not least is OPI GoldenEye vs Zoya Ziv. Clearly these 2 aren't dupes, they are different enough to own both in my opinion. I used 2 coats of Ziv and 3 coats of GoldenEye for the photo below.

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*some polishes in this post were sent for review, most were bought by me*

The lighting in the bottle shot of Zoya Kimber makes it look like there's an exclamation point at the end of the name. For some reason this gave me the giggles! Nothing like a bottle of nail polish enthusiastically self-promoting itself!

What a ton of swatches, thank you so much. This always really helps my purchasing decisions. This must have taken you all weekend!

Thank you so much for these comparisons! They were just what I needed, and they are saving me a lot of money, especially with Zoya FeiFei. Crazy how close they are! I'm sad that OPI TWiNE (ha) and NOPI FGTS aren't dupes because I may not be able to talk myself out of it now.

Thank you soooo much for this!!! I have butter London Dark Knight, and when you say that Zoya Storm glitter is different, how much different? Does it sparkle more? They look very very similar in your picture! I'm contemplating whether I need Storm... TIA!

I've got a headache from just imagining being a room with that much polish for that long, but I greatly appreciate your work because it makes it so much easier to suss out what is worth going after and what isn't. Thank you :D :D

Wow! You weren't kidding when you said this was a picture heavy post. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! This must have taken you forever and a day. I really appreciate this, and these comparison posts in general, because there's so many good polishes out there that I want to buy, but with limited funds I really don't want to be buying dupes.

I was one of the people who requested Essie Mezmerised and Butler Please. I just assumed you had the Mezmerised because it's part of their core collection and always at the drugstore when I see it. You have such a huge stash (I've seen your spreadsheet) that I'm always surprised when you don't have something! You didn't have to go out and buy the Mezmerised, but I appreciate the comparison. Thanks! :D

I'm favoriting this post forever! A huge THANK YOU for all the work you did on swatching so many polishes. I live in Europe so I do most of my NP purchases online. You just helped me save a lot of $$ and the frustration of buying several dupes or almost-dupes.

Fantastic swatches! Thanks for doing the leg work for us! What do you think about Essie Leading Lady v. China Glaze Ruby Pumps? Maybe I should just bring my bottle of Ruby Pumps with me to Target the next time I'm there to compare the two. lol!

Wowww thanks so much for such a thorough comparisons! I was just following up on another blog about Bakers St vs Butler Please, and they weren't able to compare it for me so I googled it and your blog came up just in the nick of time. Looks like I don't need Butler Please after all thanks :)

Thank you, thank you for all the hard work!! It's an awesome post and I appreciate all the time and effort you put into it. I have Nails inc Bakers St but I'm still going to get Essie Butler Please because it's my favorite color :)

It's a shame that Leading Lady isn't a dupe for Ruby Slippers. I wanted Ruby Slippers SO BAD and I even saw a bottle one time, but passed over it because I thought I'd be able to go back and get it in a couple of days. Wrong!

thank you sooo much for this post! what a lot of work but it's so helpful. champagne kisses look like if i'm not lion and i herd that had a baby haha. i kind of still want to get it even though i have both those polishes plus both the ulta exclusives from last year just because i LOVE those types of glitters!

I'm wondering if a possible dupe for OPI's Casino Royale is China Glaze's Purr-fect Plum from the recent Safari Collection? To my eye they look extremely similar in the bottle, but haven't tried them on the nail yet.

Wow what a great post! I so appreciate all the time and effort this obviously took to do! Now I just have to try and keep it all straight in my head! Bottom line - very few true dupes but obviously lots are close to one another.

It makes me sad to think that probably everything revolutionary with nail polish has already been done. The companies are now more or less all producing the same thing, in a different package.

I was at Walgreens yesterday and almost picked up Butler Please, but I have Pacific Blue so I'm so glad I resisted! Thanks for the swatches! They are beautiful and really helpful with helping me to decide which holiday colors I'm going to get.

Wow I have been pulling my hair out trying to decide which holiday polishes I want/need. It would be really helpful to see a side by side comparison of Glittering Garland and Logan as they seem the closest. I have GG and am wondering if I need Logan.

Awesome! Thank you so much for doing these! Super helpful! Ack!!! I ended up getting OPI On Her Majesty's Secret Service when I already owned FeiFei. :( *adds to purge pile* I also got Goldeneye when I already owned Sally Hansen CSM Gilded Lily. Those two are dupes as well. *sigh*

I was comparing your swatches of Julie G Under Mistletoe and Zoya Logan...are they close or not really? I'm 99% sure about including Logan in my holiday order from Zoya (especially after seeing your comparisons) but was just wondering. :) Thanks again for the awesome comparisons! (((sending hugs 'n love to your cuticles for their hard work))) <3

Thanks for the comparison of FeiFei and On Her Majesty's Secret Service! I was debating buying some more from the Bond collection, but I'll pass on this one! REALLY want the Zoya Ornate collection now!

I do love Zoya Storm, but I own Topshop Gypsy Night and, even if it sparkles redder than it looks in the bottle and than Zoya Storm, I think they're quite similar too. But I think I need Storm anyway XD

Thanks so much for doing all of these. I so look forward to your comparison posts. I have a whole lot of these shades - some in the fuchsia/magenta family I love, love and do see difference such as between Meep Meep and You Only Live Twice - Meep Meep has this icky plastic piece thing in it that was used in that collection in 2 of the shades to 'look like' glass fleck and it really wrecked those shades for me. I am head over heals with You Only Live Twice this season!!! But for most folks - agree, they would not notice the difference. I was thrilled to see YOLT come out. I had been wearing OPI's Let Me Entertain You as my fav magenta glass fleck. Now with this new one, it's a more modern look with a deeper coloring to it (more red-raspberry like). Again, thanks - you do these comps like no one else does (or can)...oh and now I have to get Essie Mesmerize. I kept hearing folks talk about it on blog comments but missed it when it came out. I can see now I need it!

You have no idea how much I LOVE comparison swatches!! Not many people do them. While I do love my polish, I'm on a rather tight budget at the moment, so I really try to avoid dupes. Thank you so much!!

Thanks a million for this post! I found it while googling swatches, I can't believe that China Glaze Pizzazz was on my wishlist when I already own Rainbow in the S-Kylie and a million other Rainbow Connection dupes. Duh. Thank you!!

Sorry this is so much later, but....do you think Skyfall from the James Bond collection and Mrs O'Leary's BBQ (OPI) are similar enough to not buy both? Or are they different? I looked up comparisons online and couldn't find any.

Zoyas Demi looks exactly like opi casino royale in my mind. I missed the opportunity to snag Demi but wanted it so bad. When casino royals was released the first thing I thought of was Demi. If you have them both would you let me know if they are dupes? Thank you!

Thank you so much for the comparisons! I've been wondering whether or not I should get both Champagne Kisses and I'm Not Lion, but I think they're different enough that I can justify opening my wallet twice.

Do you know if Champagne Kisses and Butter London's West End Wonderland are dupes or pretty close? I owned WEW a while back, but the price stopped me from buying another. I'm wondering if CK is close enough to fly.

OMG, how neat those nails are!!!I'm a very beginner in polishing nails. Everytime I'm trying to paint my nails to the edges, I always paint my skin also. How do you prevent your polish out of your nails?

Oh my gosh! I Neeeever post on websites and I know I am incredibly late, but thank you so much for ALL of your hard work!!! I loooove butler please by Essie & hunted all over the place for it...found it today soooo happy!! Thanks for the comparisons, you were right...the others cant dupe it, one of a kind!